


Dance With Me (In The Pale Moonlight)

by liseuse



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-20
Updated: 2013-10-20
Packaged: 2017-12-30 00:02:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1011635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/liseuse/pseuds/liseuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sirius just wants to dance, Remus has other things on his mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dance With Me (In The Pale Moonlight)

**Author's Note:**

> All my thanks go to my beta, the lovely [](http://magnetic-pole.livejournal.com/profile)[**magnetic_pole**](http://magnetic-pole.livejournal.com/). Any remaining mistakes are mine, and mine alone. I hope you enjoy this, [](http://the-realduck.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://the-realduck.livejournal.com/)**the_realduck**

'Come on, Moony,' Sirius wheedled, holding his hands out to Remus. 'Dance with me. It's fun. You remember fun, don’t you?' He gestured at Alice and Frank who were, it seemed, attempting to lindyhop and coming perilously close to destroying the common room. Meanwhile Cadwallader and Miribel shuffled closer to each other in incremental steps.

Remus raised an eyebrow and clutched at his glass protectively. 'Dancing isn’t fun. Dancing is torment and torture and Madame Sharples telling me I've got two left feet and nowt between me ears.'

'Nowt between me ears,' Sirius said, turning the words into a parody of themselves. 'I like that.'

'You would,' Remus said shortly, before softening it with a smile. ‘But never try and imitate the accent again. It doesn’t work. You sound like a politician trying to convince people he’s been north of Watford Gap.’

‘What in Circe’s heavenly circle is Watford Gap?’ Sirius said, saying _Watford Gap_ carefully, as if he was scared it was a hex.

‘It’s...’ Remus paused. ‘Never mind. It really doesn’t matter. If you’re really curious ask Petronella, she lives somewhere near it.’

‘Right,’ Sirius said, frowning. ‘Anyway, stop deflecting, Moony, my boy. The aim of this is to teach you to dance. And not whatever Madame Sharples was trying to teach you. Was it ballet? Please tell me it was ballet. It would make my life.’

‘It wasn’t ballet,’ Remus said, lying through his teeth. ‘And if I have told you once I have told you a thousand times, I can dance. I just don’t dance. At least not in public.’

‘Then what on earth are you going to do at the Yule Ball?’ Sirius sounded genuinely puzzled. ‘You can’t sit at the side the whole night, like a fifth-year. James has finally managed to convince Lily he isn’t the spawn of the devil, Pete somehow coerced Melisande into attending with him, and I ...’ Sirius trailed off.

Remus raised his eyebrow, ‘You will be very busy with a host of girls you cannot shake off your coattails.’

‘Or, I could be with you.’ Sirius said hopefully, looking down at his feet.

Remus rolled his eyes and finished his drink. ‘I won’t be in the Hall, you great lummox. I will be somewhere else. A bit less warm, and a lot less full of students.’

‘Oh,’ Sirius said, eyes widening. ‘How the buggering fuck did I forget?’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ Remus said, smiling tightly. ‘I didn’t remind anyone because you’re all looking forward to the ball so much. I’ll be fine.’

‘Don’t be such an idiot, Moony.’ Sirius clapped him on the shoulder. ‘I’ll be there.’

\--

‘Moony, I am so sorry,’ James said earnestly over breakfast the next morning. ‘I think all the thrill of Lily, Love of My Life, Eventually Potter finally agreeing to spend time with me just went to my head. I’ll be there too.’

‘You sounded genuinely pained on that last sentence,’ Pete said admiringly. ‘How do you even do that?’

‘It’s a Potter family gift,’ James grinned, ‘you should hear my dad telling my mum he’s sorry he didn’t do something she asked him to. I don’t think even the Minister could put more false sorrow into his voice.’

‘My family doesn’t bother with all that,’ Sirius said through a mouthful of toast and scrambled eggs. ‘More of a bored drawl on all occasions. _Sirius, dear, your grandfather has died on the toast, do call Miriam and have him cleared away._.’

James shuddered. ‘That’s just weird. You sounded exactly like your mother.’

Remus turned the page of his copy of _Numerology and Grammatica_ , scribbling something despairingly on his scroll. ‘Anyone have any idea what ad²y/dx² + bdy/dx + cy = 0 where b² > 4ac predicts if the Subject has a heart-number of three and their birthmoon in Venus?’

‘Don’t be stupid, ask Lily.’ James said, and then looked worried. ‘Oh, fucking hell, that was the homework, wasn’t it?’

 

‘Yes, James,’ Remus said, ‘unless this is what I do for fun in my free time, with a hangover the size of Venus. Of course it was the homework, you complete berk.’

‘Buggering Circe!’ James said and leaped from his seat. ‘I need to find Lily, Light of My Life, Eventually Potter. Only she can save me!’

‘Us,’ Remus called after him, ‘only she can save _us_!’ He looked across the table at Sirius and Peter who were smiling the smile of those who hadn’t chosen to take Arithmancy and needed only to invent something for Trelawney. ‘Don’t say a word. I don’t want to hear it. Also, you are going to the Yule Ball.’ He stood up and shoved his scroll into his bag and set off in pursuit of James.

‘I hope Remus gets to Lily first. I don’t think James stands a chance. And, are we going to the Yule Ball?’ Peter asked Sirius. ‘I mean, it doesn’t seem fair. But I had to try really hard to get Melisande to agree.’

‘Of course you’re going to the Ball, Pete.’ Sirius said, ‘I can even guarantee you won’t turn into a pumpkin at midnight. And James has to go because he’ll throw himself off the Astronomy Tower if he gets one more setback from Lily. I am going to throw myself on the sword.’

‘That’s what she said,’ Pete snickered into his porridge.

 

\--

‘Sirius,’ Remus said flatly. ‘Go back to the castle right now, get changed and go and be adored by your legion of groupies.’

‘No,’ Sirius said, dropping his bag to the floor and letting the hover spell fade gently on a hamper. ‘You always have to miss out on things, and it’s not fair.’ He stared at his feet, ‘And, I’d rather be here with you. You know that, right?’

‘You look like a five-year-old with that pout on your face,’ Remus said. ‘Shut up. Don’t ask if I’m all right.’

 

‘I wasn’t going to!’ Sirius protested. ‘Well, maybe just a little bit.’ He sat down on the floor, and started pulling things out of his bag. ‘It’s just, you should be in the common room, with everyone, mocking James for his stupid dress robes and worrying about getting your hair to stay flat. Not here.’ He gestured around the Shack and shrugged one shoulder.

‘There’s worse places under heaven,’ Remus said, and then laughed at Sirius’s puzzled face. ‘My mum says it a lot. Usually when the leak in the kitchen roof starts up. Plus, I don’t need to be in the Hall to make fun of James’s robes. He looks like his dad in them, I’ll just tell him that later.’

‘I don’t think our roof would dare leak,’ Sirius said glumly. ‘Unless it was blood, and then it would just drip down artistically and probably stain the floor.’

‘Okay …’ Remus frowned and then stretched awkwardly. ‘I think the moon’s about to come above the horizon. It might be time to indulge your canine side.’

\--

 

‘Come on, Moonshine,’ Sirius shook Remus’s shoulder. ‘Time to rise and shine.

Remus flailed his arm out from under the blanket, catching Sirius’s wrist. ‘Why? No one is going to be awake. And if they are they’re going to be trying to sneak back to the dorms anyway?’

‘Because I have tea, toast, eggs, bacon and black pudding. But only if you get up.’ Sirius grinned, before shaking Remus loose and going to poke at the fire.

‘Fine,’ Remus groused, and leaned over to get his jumper. ‘Look, I’m up,’ he said a couple of seconds later, running his fingers through his hair. ‘It’s not helping, is it?’

‘No,’ Sirius said, doubled over laughing. ‘You look like a deranged hedgehog. It’s approaching James levels of silliness.’

‘It’ll calm down when I’ve had tea,’ Remus said hopefully and sniffed the air. ‘Oh, that smells good.’

‘It should, I owe Flippy two scarves, a pair of socks and some chocolate for this. Bloody hard bargainer, that elf.’ Sirius put a plate full of food down in front of Remus and then sat at the other side of the table with his own. ‘Dig in, no one wants cold black pudding.’

\--

Remus flicked his wand at the plates and danced them back to the hamper before stretching back in the chair and clicking his neck. ‘Oh, that was good, Pads.’

Sirius beamed and poured the rest of the tea out of the pot before sending it to join the plates. ‘Flippy didn’t do badly at all, I must admit.’

‘Not just that,’ Remus said quietly, shrugging one shoulder up. ‘Thanks, Pads. For missing the Yule Ball and everything.’

‘Shut up,’ Sirius said, looking sternly across the table. ‘I meant what I said. It isn’t fair that you have to miss out on everything. Least I can do is turn into a big daft dog when the occasion calls for it.’

Remus laughed hoarsely and then summoned his bag. ‘Well, as a reward, how about a dance? Since I so cruelly denied you your retinue of women.’

‘Seriously,’ Sirius said, his eyes lighting up. ‘You mean it? You’re actually going to show me some of the moves Madame Sharples taught you?’

‘Yeah,’ Remus said quietly and disenchanted the record player to full size, and putting it on the table. He flipped through the records in his bag before pulling one out, and slipping it from the sleeve. ‘Well, I’m not showing you any of Madame Sharples’ moves. No one needs that.’

Sirius stood up as the record player crackled into life, and held out his hands to Remus. ‘Dance with me?’

‘Yes,’ Remus said, and put his head on Sirius’s shoulder as they shuffled across the floorboards. ‘I’m sorry for the other day. It’s just, it’s not the same as Frank and Alice, you know that.’

‘I know,’ Sirius said, his head tucked into the curve of Remus’s neck. ‘I just want it to be.’

Remus smiled softly, and turned his head so he could kiss Sirius. ‘I like how much you want things to be steady and settled and all that.’ He kissed Sirius again, tightening his arms around his waist, and then, ignoring the twinges of pain and the stretch of a gash on his shoulder blade, twirled Sirius out before bringing him back in and dipping him down to the floor. Sirius smiled up at him, like he’d just hung the moon, and Remus blushed. ‘A Madame Sharples special, that one. I always thought it was daft.’

‘I think I want to write a thank you card for Madame Sharples,’ Sirius said, still grinning. ‘Now, pull me back up before you hurt yourself. Don’t think I didn’t see that wince.’ He raised an eyebrow at Remus, and kissed him softly when he was back on both his feet. ‘We’d better get you to Pomfrey. She misses you, I think, when you aren’t loitering in her lair of mystery.’

Remus laughed and looked at Sirius, trying to show all his affection and fondness and that creeping sensation he thought might be love. ‘All right, but I am only going to be checked over. There’s no way I’m missing everyone’s “I did _what_ last night?!” revelations.’

Sirius rolled his eyes affectionately. ‘No chance of that. It’ll be the talk of the school for months to come.’ He slid his hand into Remus’s, kicking the door to the Shack closed behind them.


End file.
